Got a Squeezebox Receiver today

[mattjax05]

It's taken a lot of my time today but I am very happy with the outcome, persistence did definitely prevail today!

I purchased the Receiver not knowing the issues connecting it wirelessly WITHOUT the Squeezebox remote. I naively assumed my iPod touch with ipeng would sort it all out - silly me.

Some nice guy has developed a work-around this problem http://projects.robinbowes.com/Net-UDAP/trac/wiki/GettingStarted however im not too computer techie and it at first appeared to be a flaming nightmare. This is the first time I have ever done something like this and you basically control the Receiver's settings through the computer's command window.

It took me around 4 hours to set it up wirelessly, I managed to connect it within 2 hours but that was with the receiver wired to the router. I just couldn't get the commands right for wireless so I had to trial and error everything until eventually I got it working. Looking back there were times when I wanted to cry but now it's all done I'm well chuffed.

A word of warning for people who intend to buy a Receiver without the availability of the Squeezebox remote to hand...... BEWARE!!!!!!!

Edit: Just one thing of note. The instructions state that you need a wired connection for this work-around configuration to work. I however managed to configure the receiver with just the SB receiver connected to the router via ethernet cable whilst the laptop was connected wirelessly to the router. Good job really seen as I only had one ethernet cable!

 

[JamesPianoman]

Useful info and tips thanks Matt What's the rest of your system? I've just bought a NAS drive so am researching options from there..!

Cheers, James

 

[nads]

so which Squeezebox was it? the Duet box only? or the SB 3 box only?

 

[mattjax05]

JamesPianoman:Useful info and tips thanks Matt What's the rest of your system? I've just bought a NAS drive so am researching options from there..!

Cheers, James

That's ok. My system is quite simple really - Laptop which has squeezebox server installed and currently all it also stores all my music, iPod with ipeng, squeezebox receiver, stereo amp and speakers. A couple of improvements could be made 1) An upgrade DAC i.e DacMagic and 2) A NAS running squeezebox server or for a cheaper alternative just an external network hard drive (the latter would obviously mean my laptop would need to still be switched on acting as a server for the squeezebox client)

Happy with things as they are for now though.

 

[mattjax05]

nads:so which Squeezebox was it? the Duet box only? or the SB 3 box only?

It was the duet box only.

 

[Anonymous]

Well Im glad someone has managed to get their receiver working without a remote. Ive been at it 3 hours and I cant even get into the file to enter the commands! My evening has involved a huge amount of swearing. Ive tried every perl editor I can find and must be doing something very basic, very wrong. Usually no too shabby with computers too.

Genuinely thought it was more or less a plug and play device. Wish I had done my homework now.

 

[mattjax05]

J0n35y:

Well Im glad someone has managed to get their receiver working without a remote. Ive been at it 3 hours and I cant even get into the file to enter the commands! My evening has involved a huge amount of swearing. Ive tried every perl editor I can find and must be doing something very basic, very wrong. Usually no too shabby with computers too.

Genuinely thought it was more or less a plug and play device. Wish I had done my homework now.

If you haven't already done so try this http://slim2lirc.myown.mailcan.com/udap_shell_1_0_0.exe it's what I used to access the command window.

 

[method man]

mine was plug and play. but i did buy the duet with remote. which to be fair is how its marketed. the remote is a mini computer by itself.

 

[mattjax05]

method man:mine was plug and play. but i did buy the duet with remote. which to be fair is how its marketed. the remote is a mini computer by itself.

Agreed but some people (like myself) would much prefer to buy an iPod Touch/Phone and use iPeng as you seem to get more bang for your buck. If you are prepared to spend a few hours to configure then it's an excellent alternative. Or, if you are lucky enough to know someone who would kindly lend you their duet remote..............

 

[mattjax05]

mattjax05:J0n35y:

Well Im glad someone has managed to get their receiver working without a remote. Ive been at it 3 hours and I cant even get into the file to enter the commands! My evening has involved a huge amount of swearing. Ive tried every perl editor I can find and must be doing something very basic, very wrong. Usually no too shabby with computers too.

Genuinely thought it was more or less a plug and play device. Wish I had done my homework now.

If you haven't already done so try this http://slim2lirc.myown.mailcan.com/udap_shell_1_0_0.exe it's what I used to access the command window.

J0n35y - how did you get on with this?

 

[Anonymous]

Funnily enough mattjax05, I found udap.exe on Friday just before I checked the thread and thank God I did. It saved me going bald! It was found entirely by luck too and hopefully the two main websites with walkthroughs (the ones found pretty much instantly via Google) will update and include this in future.

What I have found out from a computer savvy friend of mine is that Vista can be a bit of a pain in the back side to access the Udap command prompt in DOS. Once in via the exe though, the set up pretty much followed the guidelines in so far as the Squeezebox light was changing colours.

What helped the most to get music playing once I was up to speed with the "set squeezecenter_address=xxx" type commands was the examples on the guy who wrote the scripts page rather than the actual walkthrough. One of the examples fit my router set up perfectly and I just went ahead and typed up the commands and hey presto. A few tweaks were needed - for example, my server name was "Jack-Jones" which it didnt seem to like so changed to "JackJones" and that was fine.

Only problem now is that when I turn the laptop off it resets the ip address and I have to update the code for that. I have DHCP set as on but must have to change something else that Im not sure about. There is a handy forum for help on things like that though that I'll try soon.

What I will say though is that it was worth the wait. I have spent hours playing about with my music library, Napsters library (signed back up now that its £5 a month) and the likes of Last.fm. There was the occassional hiccup now and again in the beginning (I think these came from initial iPeng set up) but havent had any problems since. Very happy now! All that's missing is for Spotify to be integrated (big fingers crossed for that).

Sorry for the rambling post though! Now all Im looking for is some sort of NAS set up that will support Squeezecenter and iTunes! One that is cheapish and isnt a pain to set up. Help!

 

[fido87456]

I'm running a SB classic with iPeng. I read that the wireless signal wasn't as reliable on the recievers, and also decided it would be useful to be able to have the screen and use the infrared remote if I wanted to. Having read this thread I'm glad I did it that way!

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Buffalo Linkstation Pro might solve your needs. I have just installed mine and it seems to be doing all I need - integration with iTunes; various wifi radios around the flat.

 

[The_Lhc]

J0n35y: Only problem now is that when I turn the laptop off it resets the ip address and I have to update the code for that. I have DHCP set as on but must have to change something else that Im not sure about. There is a handy forum for help on things like that though that I'll try soon.

This is exactly what you'd expect with DHCP if you don't tell the router to issue a fixed address to the laptop.

 

[mattjax05]

the_lhc:

J0n35y: Only problem now is that when I turn the laptop off it resets the ip address and I have to update the code for that. I have DHCP set as on but must have to change something else that Im not sure about. There is a handy forum for help on things like that though that I'll try soon.

This is exactly what you'd expect with DHCP if you don't tell the router to issue a fixed address to the laptop.

I have DHCP enabled with no problems with SB Receiver connecting every time. Did you change this setting:

lan_ip_mode: 0 - Use static IP details, 1 - use DHCP to discover IP details

 

[Anonymous]

Mattjax05- I think, if I understand the_Ihc correctly, that every time my laptop boots up (its connected wirelessly) it is acquiring a fresh IP address as you would expect but unless I fix this IP to the laptop the problem will persist and won't allow the Squeezebox to automatically update the IP details with squeezecenter as your system seems to be doing which I assume is a wired pc connection to the router? Maybe Im getting the wrong end of the stick. Im 99% certain I have the IP mode set at "1" though. At work so will check when home. Would feel mighty moronic if I had missed this! Wouldnt be surprised though, had to enter the codes umpteen times along with router updates over Fri night and Sat morning but seems to working fine other than this IP issue.

 

[The_Lhc]

J0n35y:Mattjax05- I think, if I understand the_Ihc correctly, that every time my laptop boots up (its connected wirelessly) it is acquiring a fresh IP address as you would expect

No, it *might* be. It's entirely possible that the router will hand back the same IP address to the laptop, however it's also entirely possible it won't. It's when it doesn't you get the problem.

but unless I fix this IP to the laptop the problem will persist and won't allow the Squeezebox to automatically update the IP details with squeezecenter as your system seems to be doing which I assume is a wired pc connection to the router? Maybe Im getting the wrong end of the stick. Im 99% certain I have the IP mode set at "1" though. At work so will check when home. Would feel mighty moronic if I had missed this! Wouldnt be surprised though, had to enter the codes umpteen times along with router updates over Fri night and Sat morning but seems to working fine other than this IP issue.

You can still use DHCP, you just need to tell the router to hand out the *same* address each time, rather than handing out random addresses, it's probably worth doing this for every device on your network, if they need to talk to each other a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

A bit strange this one but without touching or changing a thing my Squeezebox has now decided to let itself be detected automatically. Like I said, strange but very welcome!

Just hope that if I go down the NAS route it doesnt mess all the settings up!!!